WHATSTHATFISH
Bony fish

Peacock Flounder

Bothus lunatus

Also known as: Flower Flounder, Flowery Flounder, Platefish, Solefish

LCLeast ConcernIUCN Red List, 2015
Adult
@fishx6 · Bonaire Captain Don's Beach, Caribbean Netherlands · November 20101 / 16
01

Overview

Found singly on hard bottoms, or partially buried in the sandy substrate, over clear coral, rubble, sand, seagrass beds, and around mangroves, of coral reefs.

Flatfish, Soles and Flounders are placed in their families by location of their eyes. Their are both left eye and right eye dominant families.
Flatfish bury themselves in sand to hide from predators and use their eyes as periscopes as these can rotate 180 degrees.
During pelagic larval stage these fish are not flat but become so as they grow, their bodies flatten, and one eye migrates across the head next to the other eye.

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How to identify

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03

Habitat & where to find it

  • Range · Western Atlantic, Caribbean, Eastern Atlantic
  • Exact location · 1
  • Country only · 15
LIVES IN

Found singly on hard bottoms, or partially buried in the sandy substrate, over clear coral, rubble, sand, seagrass beds, and around mangroves, of coral reefs.

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Adult photos 16

05

Discussion 1

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1 comment

  • Xavier F. Gonzalez· 26 Jul 2011

    I saw one today at one sandy area between rock bottoms, close to the shore at the "Montones" beach in Isabela, Puerto Rico.

ALL STAGES
FOR THE MARINE-BIOLOGY CURIOUS

Deep dive

Taxonomy

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classTeleostei
  4. orderPleuronectiformes
  5. familyBothidae
  6. genusBothus
  7. speciesBothus lunatus (Linnaeus, 1758)

SourcesWoRMSFishBase

06

More in the family

Lefteye Flounders (Bothidae)